Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev on Saturday due to his work schedule, according to the Kremlin.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said during a call with reporters on Thursday that Putin had paid his respects to Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, earlier that morning.
Putin visited Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital, where Gorbachev died on Tuesday, and laid flowers at his coffin.
"Before leaving [for Kaliningrad], the president stopped at the Central Clinical Hospital and said goodbye to Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev," Peskov said, according to Russian state-run news outlet RBC.
"We know that the general farewell ceremony will take place on September 3, the funeral, but, unfortunately, the president's work schedule will not allow it to be done on September 3, so he decided to do it today," Peskov added.
Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR, died on Tuesday at the age of 91 following a long illness.
Peskov indicated that Gorbachev will not receive an official state funeral.
The Kremlin spokesman said Gorbachev's funeral would have "elements" of a state funeral, including a guard of honor. He said the state was assisting with organizing his funeral.
The Kremlin previously said that it couldn't confirm if Putin would attend Gorbachev's funeral in central Moscow. According to the Gorbachev Foundation, he will be buried in Moscow's Novodevichy cemetery next to his wife, Raisa.
Max Seddon, the Moscow bureau chief of the Financial Times, shared a video on Twitter of Putin paying his respects to Gorbachev.
The Kremlin says Putin can't attend Mikhail Gorbachev's funeral on Saturday due to scheduling conflicts.
— max seddon (@maxseddon) September 1, 2022
It won't be a full state funeral – but will have "elements" of one, though it's not clear how that'll be different.
Instead, Putin laid flowers at Gorbachev's coffin today. pic.twitter.com/HxO0ENkSos
The footage, broadcast on state television, showed Putin laying a bouquet of red carnations next to a portrait of Gorbachev. Putin made the sign of the cross and bowed several times.
Gorbachev was unpopular with many Russians, including Putin, who called the collapse of the USSR in 1991 the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century."
Responding to Gorbachev's death in an official statement on the Kremlin's website on Wednesday, Putin described the former Soviet leader "a statesman who had an enormous impact on the course of world history."
Putin said Gorbachev led the country during "a period of complex, dramatic changes." His Kremlin predecessor led the USSR from March 1985 until August 1991.
Duma deputy Leonid Slutsky described Gorbachev following his death as the "brightest" politician of his time, but added in a post on his Telegram channel that "for all those born in the Soviet Union, he remains a complex and controversial historical figure."
While lauded in the West for his role in ending the Cold War, Gorbachev was blamed by many Russians for the economic chaos that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Updated 9/1/22, 8:23 AM ET: This story has been updated with additional information.
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